Major spoiler alert….this storyline was developed directly from promotional footage seen on the-N.
My note….I've been wanting to do this type of storyline for a really long time, but didn't know how approach it and how to write it accurately and honestly. So, with a prompt from the newest promo clips from the-N and the amazing help and encouragement from Heather(havocmangawip), a new fic was born. I hope you enjoy this one, it's pretty special to me.
ONE SMALL STEP…..
CHAPTER 1: CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Jimmy wheeled into the therapy room of the rehabilitation center for his weekly Saturday morning session. His therapist Lana greeted him with a warm, genuine smile. "No Ashley today?", she asked curiously when she noticed he was uncustomarily alone.
Jimmy returned the smile as he pulled up to her. "She's got her music stuff on Saturday's now", he answered, his grin got wider and he shook his head, as he remembered how he and Ashley argued about her intent on not taking this internship in order to continue attending his Saturday morning sessions with him. She had even called this morning to say that if Jimmy wanted her to, she would skip work to go with him.
"It's not like there's anything for her to do here anyway", Jimmy chuckled as he transferred up onto the table Lana was patting.
Lana helped Jimmy lay down, then stood back to look at him critically. "Ashley does plenty around here", she defended lightly, lifting Jimmy's right leg and stretching it. "That girl knows just about everything there is to know".
Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but it's gotta be so boring for her to hang around here for four hours on a Saturday, just to watch me do the same boring routine, week after week", he gripped, sighing heavily at the end.
"I've never heard her complain", Lana argued playfully, gently laying the one leg down and reaching for the other.
"That's just Ash for ya….she would never complain", he replied knowingly. There were times when Jimmy felt like his disability, in some ways, was holding Ashley back from doing everything she wanted to do.
Lana laid the other leg down and paused, leaning up against the table to look at Jimmy. "I don't think so Jimmy…", she smirked, moving down to the end of the table to work with Jimmy's feet. "…Ashley seems like the type of girl who has no problem speaking her mind". Jimmy smiled bashfully at Lana's astute observation. "In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a girlfriend so dedicated to her boyfriends care", she pointed out as she continued to rotate Jimmy's ankle. "To be totally honest….", she leaned forward and whispered, as if divulging top secret information. "….there aren't very many spouses that are even remotely as devoted as Ashley is".
Jimmy's blush intensified at this revelation, but a small pang of guilt still lingered deep inside of him. "Yeah, she made me promise to tell her about everything that happened today", he stated, dismissing Lana's last statement and effectively changing the subject. "Like it'll be any different".
Lana chuckled as she patted Jimmy's knee on the way over to help him sit up. "Oh, you never know...", she hinted, offering her arm for him to grasp. Jimmy ruffled his brow suspiciously as he slid from the table to his chair. Lana then walked over to the file she had laid opened, to jot something down, motioning for Jimmy to get down on the floor mats as she passed him. "I might have a surprise for you later", she added cryptically, a sly grin forming across her lips as she glanced, over her shoulder, at Jimmy.
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Jimmy laid on the floor mat, exhausted and panting...yet energized and feeling accomplished. His t-shirt was covered in sweat, as was the rest of his upper body. He looked up at the petite lady hovering over him, sporting a satisfied smirk on her face. Lana was quite deceiving, tiny and soft spoken as a person…..strong and tough as a physiotherapist.
Lana kneeled down next to Jimmy, just as he was twisting to go from being propped up on his elbows, to sitting with his hands supporting him from behind. "You need a hand?", she asked sincerely, and in no way questioning his capability. Jimmy shook his head and reached out for his chair, pulling it as close as possible and setting the breaks.
Lana watched as her client expertly hauled himself up and back into his chair in one solid move. Oh yeah, he's ready...she thought to herself with a smile as she stood up and walked over to the small desk she had in the corner of the room, beckoning Jimmy to follow her. She sat down in her task chair and walked it over, Fred Flinstone style, to where Jimmy had stopped, next to her desk.
"So what's my surprise?", Jimmy grinned eagerly, feeling as though he deserved something special for his efforts...his mind wander to the thoughts of extra time in the whirlpool, and he sighed contently.
"I'll get to that in a minute", Lana replied, as a mother would calm her anxious child. "Before you go to work with Boris...I just want to go over your two year eval", she explained, re-opening the manilla folder and placing it in her lap. "Your progress just this past year has increased ten-fold". Jimmy knew they would mainly be discussing his upper body strength...the athrophy in his legs had plateaued some time ago, and now they were working on maintaining what muscle mass he had left.
"Boris and I have been discussing the benefits of the strength-training regimin the two of you have been working on...", Lana trailed off when she looked up to see the large, burly Russian trainer walk into the room. "Speak of the devil", she murmured and smiled for him to come over. "I'm glad you could join us", she called out as he was walking over.
Boris gave them both polite smiles. "Hey Jim...Lana", he greeted huskily with a sharp accent that made the name Jim sound something like Zheem. Boris took stance next to Jimmy and laid a strong hand on his shoulder, he gave Lana a conspiritory grin and she nodded slighly before continuing. Jimmy was becoming increasingly suspicious of the two.
Lana cleared her throat. "Well, as I was saying...Boris and I are very happy with how far you've come along and we both agree that you're probably strong enough for us to start getting you upright", she exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.
Jimmy looked at her incredulously and her expression turned serious. "You know, up on your feet again...standing therapy", she clairified, not nearly as confidently as her previous statement.
With that, Jimmy burst into laughter. "C'mon Lana...how long have I been your patient?", the question rolled out inbetween chuckles. Lana looked so stunned, that Jimmy thought she might actually be serious. "You know, me...Jimmy Brooks...T-9...complete injury...", he trailed off as he slipped the folder from her hands and looked...it was definitely his.
"Yeah, who's upper body is so strong now, he could probably bench press Boris here", she joked lightly, motioning to the bulky man to Jimmy's left.
"You are serious?", Jimmy asked quietly, obviously conflicted.
"Absolutely", she affirmed encouragingly. "You're ready Jimmy".
"How?", he whispered, unconsciously picking at his fingernails.
"Well, we first need to get you measured and fitted for full leg braces, while we continue to work on strengthening the upper body as well as focusing harder on those tricky abs that don't work so well anymore...those are what will help keep you stabilized and as always, we'll keep your lower body as healthy and flexible as possible", Lana proceeded cautiously after noticing the trepidition in Jimmy's eyes.
"Then we move onto thee bars, where we get you up to stand", Boris announced proudly. "And from there we work on shifting body to swing legs like walking...then we go to crutches", he added choppily, his broken English getting the point across, but apparently not to Jimmy, he didn't seem to be comprehending any of it.
"What? No...I can't", Jimmy disputed, shaking his head . "Lana, I can't walk. I won't walk...ever", he turned back to her, stating this fact almost pleadingly. "I can't stand up...hell, I can't even sit up without support", Jimmy spat and angrily grabbed for the rims of his chair.
"Jimmy if you're worried about falling, there will be all kinds of devises to assist you, as well as both me and Boris", Lana assured him. "Were not just gonna hand you a pair of crutches and say ' here, have at it'", she tried to lighten the mood with a small joke.
Jimmy shook his head in protest, "No, it's not that...".
"Jimmy this is a commonly used and much needed form of phisiotherapy", Lana interrupted insistently. "It's very important for bone...".
"I said no..", he yelled and jerked his chair toward the door.
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Anya Chekofsky was standing at the front desk of the Lakeview Rehabilitation Center, waiting for her permit papers to be signed so she could start work there, when the door to physiotherapy room number three flew open and a young man in a wheelchair, pushed forcrfully down the hall.
She immediately recognized him from her new highschool, she was one of the 'intruders' from rival school Lakehurst that were implanted into Degrassi Community School after the fire left them institutionless...and he was the only kid in a wheelchair.
He was so focused on pushing down the hall, that he didn't hear...or chose to ignore, the woman calling out his name as she was running to catch up to this..."Jimmy". That's right, he was Jimmy Brooks, the star basketball player that got shot in the back, right in the very halls of the school she was now attending. The same Jimmy Brooks that was in her third period advanced art class. The same Jimmy Brooks that...
"Jimmy stop...please", Lana, a physiotherapist, probably the best at the center, that Anya knew very well, called out pleadingly to the boy. He spun around to face Lana, but didn't look up at her. "What's going on Jimmy?", she asked firmly, but compassionately.
"I'm not interested...okay?", he snapped, making contact with smoldering eyes.
"I don't remember my request being optional", she replied sternly, hands on hips.
"So what your saying is, you're gonna force me to do this...even if I don't want to?", he asked incredulously.
Lana softened. "What I don't understand is why you wouldn't want to", she prodded gently.
"Because I can't...you know that", Jimmy yelled, the hidden pain almost evident in his voice. He took in a deep breath and shook his head before pivoting his chair back around. "I just can't", he ground out through clenched teeth.
"Jimmy, where are you going?", Lana questioned authoritatively, to his retreating back.
"I need to get home", he grumbled and pushed a little harder.
"What about your session with Boris?", she called out desperately, tentatively taking a step forward.
"Tell him to forget it", Jimmy spat, waving a dismissive hand behind his back. "Just forget all of it". And he was out the door.
Lana turned in defeat, sending a small apologetic smile Anya's way for the display she'd just witnessed in the hall, and retreated back to the therapy room. Anya glanced back at the now closed doors at the front of the building...she was curious about this Jimmy Brooks, something about him intrigued her and she was determined to find out everything she could about him.
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So there's the first chapter, a short intro, nothing too substantial...except for Jimmy's strange reaction and the introduction of Anya. I really don't know anything about the character of Anya, except for the obvious. So I took the liberty of giving her a story too...and I couldn't help myself, since my brain is on Nutcracker overload, I gave her a last name that is supposed to be pronounced the same way as said composer's (incorrectly spelled, of course...I just thought it would be funny...but maybe it's only funny to me(?). As for Jimmy's therapist, I know I've used that name to indentify her in a few fics now, that's because on imdb(from the ep 604, CHW), they have her listed as Svetlana, but she doesn't exactly look like a Svetlana to me, so I shortened it.
Anyway, I have a lot planned for this story and there will be some questionable relationship issues, including some rocky times for our beloved JimAsh. So, stay tuned to find out what happens.
As I mentioned above, Heather(havocmangawip) has been an unbelievable help to me on this project(and many, many others), so I'd like to dedicate this story to her. Thanks Heather!
Degrassi is not mine, though Boris is...but I'd much rather have Jimmy.